A Year of Challenges
I’m usually up for a challenge and like to challenge myself to all sorts of different fitness goals whether it’s hiking the Appalachian Trail, running a marathon or completing a century bike ride. As some of you know I was an Athleta Sponsored Athlete in 2012. I enjoyed working with the company and representing the brand so much that when I moved to New York City I decided to work for them in store, since I had a strong retail background with about 15 years of retail management experience. One of the things I like about working with Athleta are the people I work with – a diverse group of mostly ladies that not only drive the brand within the store environment, but actually live the brand all day, every day. I work with professional dancers, hopeful actors, up and coming singers, fashionistas, yoga instructors and athletes who not only hustle at work, but hustle the streets of NY to make it happen. Many of us work near full-time jobs, while at the same time strive to make our dreams a reality. I am constantly amazed by the women I work with and am inspired to keep up with them …especially since a few of them are nearly half my age! In December a group of us decided to run 100 miles in the month. I’m so impressed that we all completed our goal, which of course was during a busy month of retail whirlwind and holiday travel! We had so much fun checking in with each other to make sure we were all on track we decided to do another challenge for the month of January. In fact, we have challenges lined up for the whole year! Here’s a glimpse of the first 6 months if you care to join us on our Year of Challenges.
January – 20 yoga classes. At one time I may have scoffed at this number and would have easily completed the task in 2 and a half weeks, but these days between the store, the studio and teaching yoga all over the world, 20 will be a good number. I will hit it though! I am also cheese free this month. Why? Because you are what you eat and my ass was asserting this to be true. Since I spend half a year in a bikini I decided to hold the cheese for a month, which is proving to be much easier than I thought. Don’t get me wrong, February 1 – Superbowl Sunday will be a cheese fest! Luckily, I’ll be flying out to Thailand the next day for our upcoming teacher training and there’s not much cheese there.
February – 3 days of zero drinking alcohol per week. I must admit I love my wine. When we’re on the trainings I usually stick to a sunset beer at the end of a day, unless of course we’re in Italy…when in Rome! Have you heard we’ll be in Napa Valley this fall? So exciting! And yes of course we chose February because it’s the shortest month of the year. I am also doing the Athleta Squat Challenge this month which will be a total of 2800 squats for the month or 100 a day.
March – Green your Spring! What does this mean? 5 days a week we will be incorporating as many greens as possible into our meals – leafy greens, Brussels sprouts, green beans, broccoli, etc. You may do this already, but I know personally I could use some help in this department. I figure if I make an effort and say it out loud I will be that much more inclined to make it happen! They also happen to be Foods that Fight Dementia, which as you may know from our recent post is a concern of mine. I will also be doing 100 push ups a day!
April – High Intensity Month – for 30 minutes, 4 times a week we will do an all out high intensity work-out. Burpees, mountain climbers, jumping jacks, squats, punches, kicks, plank holds, you get the idea. 30 minutes non-stop action, 4 times a week. Yes this is in addition to your yoga practice. There is no set work out. Just start moving. By the time you get tired of what you’re doing, you move on to something else. While you are doing one exercise you may have to think about what to do next. If you really want some serious inspiration check out Shaun T’s Insanity Max 30. I recently assisted styling one of his videos (another one of my many hidden talents). This work out is no joke! I used to do this kind of work out often when I worked at gyms. We simply called it sports conditioning workouts, but now you know it as High Intensity Interval Training or HIIT, either way, it’s a sweaty, fun, hot mess! If you have access to a stability ball check out these core exercises.
May – Hit the Barre – still working out the details on this one, but we will be trying to get some access to a local Barre Studio and sculpt long, lean, svelte physiques.
June – 100 miles of Running – We figure this will be more fun in June than December, ending the month with a half-marathon to celebrate!
So that’s our Year of Challenges. Join us, keep us up to date on your progress through comments posted below.
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